Banned books reading at the Berkeley Public Library.. Central Branch. Local actors from Berkeley Repertory Theatre: Howard Swain, Lorri Holt, and Sarita Ocon read their picks from books that have been banned at one time or another..
Howard Swain reads from Captain Underpants..
Howard Swain reads Alan Ginsberg's "Howl"
Lorri Holt reads from "A Wrinkle in Time.."
Along with "Always Running", Sarita Ocon read selection from one of my favorites: writer-poet Sherman Alexie! Here she reads from "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian." yay!
Not a huge crowd but really cool hour spent.. Saturday the 27th (when I'm actually posting this) is a community bike ride "Banned Books Bike Tour".. riding about 7 miles, stopping at each library for readings from "Of Mice & Men.."
Haven't updated in a bit but I've been spending some time meandering in one way or another.
Last Saturday was BlogDowntown's 2nd Annual "ShootDowntown" meet. A couple dozen or so avid photographers met up at Arda's Cafe to shoot the breeze then shoot around town. shootdowntown 2 (my flickr set) Sunday was the weekly bike meander, which I gave about 10min before deciding it was the smallest meander ever. A bike meander of one. Still, it got me up and about and out to the Arts district where I took some photos before heading back to home base in Old Bank District.
Monday found me a little under the weather but I managed to get out for a little bit yesterday in the beautiful sun before heading back in to catch that 2nd debate between Sen. Barack Obama & John McCain. I think it would have been cool if someone had a neighborhood meetup for the last debate. Who knows? Maybe it'll happen.
Until then, there's the 1st Anniversary of the downtown dogwalk in Pershing Square tonight at around 6pm. Another event to look forward to tomorrow: the Monthly Downtown Art Walk. So despite all the economic upheaval, some things continue on. You can count on Art Walk every month and people will always be wanting to meander, whether on bike, by foot or with their trusty dog by their side. Cheesy yes, yet true.
Tonight is the much anticipated Vice Presidential debate between (D)Sen Joe Biden and (R)Gov Sarah Palin. There was to be a last minute opportunity to view the debate. It had been posted recently on downtown bulletin board groups NewDowntown & Downtown LA Life, respectively. Unbeknown to me, there were no follow-up approval made, so I went to the location where I found it had been canceled.
Instead,"The Exchange" (or DLANC HQ as most of us may know it) will be host to some pro-Obama phone banks every Saturday and Sunday from 1-4pm. Also every Monday at Morona Kiang Gallery from 5-8pm 218 W 3rd Street in the Bradbury Building. You will need to bring your own phone with you to participate, as "The Exchange" does not currently have a DSL or phone line.
Phone banks are not my thing, but may be yours. Hope you enjoy the debate wherever you watch it.
Thursday morning around 830am a honor guard of LAPD officers escorted the body of LAPD Officer III Spree Desha from LAPD's Parker Center to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels..
KPCC/NPR is reporting this morning that American Apparel has hired some 2500 workers to fulfill their growing business needs. They also stated that yesterday (Tuesday) Mayor Villaraigosa toured the facilities and praised them for keeping jobs here in LA. They played a soundbite from the mayor as well.While I couldn't find a link to the streaming audio, you can read the small related piece here:
Suffice to say it was a good piece and I hope that other businesses are listening to this example.
Recently other bloggers had posted about American Apparel's expansion to the Eastern edges of the Arts District. American Apparel is a very vocal company which I recall May First they rallied their employees and were a huge presence for immigration reform. Most everyone in LA should be familiar with their "Legalize LA" campaign. It's not empty words. American Apparel seems to take good care of its employees with benefits and a decent wage.
Employees from American Apparel at the MayDay Rally on Broadway May 1st, 2008.
Another article I *did* find was regarding getting reliable & easy transportation for its employees:
"..This being Los Angeles -- City of Traffic and Angels -- there is no direct bus service to Union Station. Thus the reason for my visit.
Employees who want to reach Union Station by mass transit have to take a circuitous route that involves walking a few blocks to a bus that travels west into the heart of downtown, where they transfer to the subway. It's a journey that takes 31 minutes, not counting the initial walk to the bus, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority trip planner.
That's 31 minutes to travel 1.6 miles as the crow flies, which I compute to be 3.2 miles per hour. That's not slow. That's Stone Age."
You should definitely read the entire article. They are working w/ MTA. Currently DASH doesn't get quite close enough and in a city where the newest DASH route only got started last week, it seems it might be some more time before the next one.
While snooping around the City of LA website, I came across this Nokia Theatre 2008 Job Fair notice (it's a pdf file, btw)
Basically the Nokia Theatre will be looking for new hires at its job fair Tuesday the 26th from 1-7pm and Wednesday the 27th from 10am-5pm. These are part-time events jobs for service industry positions such as ushers, ticket-sellers, merchandising positions and the like.
The pre-screening location is actually at:
Southeast LA-Crenshaw Worksource Center
3965 S. Vermont Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90037
So the jobfair itself isn't at Nokia/ LA LIVE.. more info is on the pdf link above and includes contact name and phone.
LA Live was one of the things they pushed on new Downtowners when we were doing the housing tour, (that and the Ralph's "Opening SOON!") so it's nice to finally see some of this stuff come to fruition. I'll be looking forward to that AMC, though.
National Night Out on First Street in Little Tokyo begins very soon.. so get on over there! photo taken earlier this afternoon, as the street was taped off and workers were dashing about getting the stages set up. Among other entertainment will be live bands and dancers.
sidewalks are open, as are Little Tokyo's restaurants.
In case you haven't seen it everywhere else, tonight is the National Night Out against crime for downtown.. be sure and stop in for the festivities and neighborly goodness with the LAPD & LAFD & the rest of your community.. It's part of a bigger picture that is happening all over! The community outreach event starts at 6pm til about 10pm (the LAPD are really good at wrapping the party up, so don't be late! *grin*) and you'll want to be on First Street between Alameda and San Pedro.
I hear there's going to be a bike ride with an LAPD escort at 8pm (registration is at 7pm). More info links after a few more gratuitous pix:
LAPD on bikes (arts district 1 May 2008)
Happy wave to LAFD on our bike meander earlier this year.
Arts District Senior Lead Officer Richter checking in at the Bloom Fest last month..
So if you are keeping up at BlogDowntown tonight is the 3rd Anniversary of the Skid Row Watch Walk. If you don't usually go, tonight would be a good evening to do it, I would think.
To learn more about CCEA & the Skid Row Watch Walk and what the outreach is about: CCE Skid Row Walk
Meet up with folks the FIRST Wednesday of every month at 6pm at the Midnight Mission: 6th & San Pedro. It's about community.
You'll see many articles and news coverage today about his life and legacy to the city and people of Los Angeles. Being new here myself, I still encourage folks who have heard it before to pay attention.
It's people like Salazar who worked to make the world better in their own way, and there are people today you might recognize yourself, doing the same good things.
